EPIC Meme Proves America Does NOT Have a Gun Problem

V. Saxena reports new evidence uncovered by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that the vast majority of firearm-related crimes are committed by unlawful gun owners.

Led by epidemiologist Anthony Fabio, the team “partnered with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police to trace the origins of all 893 firearms that police recovered from crime scenes in the year 2008,” according to The Washington Post.

The results looked like this:

It was discovered that in about 8 out of 10 cases, the perpetrator had obtained his or her weapon by either stealing it from someone, finding it somewhere or illegally purchasing it.

Well, I’ll be damned …

Moreover, a study of Chicago criminals published in the peer-reviewed Preventive Medicine journal last year found that only 3 percent of them had obtained their weapon from a gun store (H/T National Review):

… [A]dults who are entitled to possess a gun are more likely than not to buy from an FFL [licensed dealer]. On the other hand, those who are disqualified by age or criminal history are most likely to obtain their guns in off-the-books transactions, often from social connections such as family and acquaintances, or from ‘street’ sources such as illicit brokers or drug dealers.

Well, smack me silly and call me Ronald Reagan!

Now tell me, President Barack Obama, how implementing additional, burdensome regulations on gun owners and retailers would somehow stop criminals from obtaining a weapon.

You can’t, can you? In fact, even The Washington Post couldn’t …

“The top-line finding of the study — that the overwhelming majority of gun crimes aren’t committed by lawful gun owners — reinforces a common refrain among gun rights advocacy groups,” the Post wrote.

“They argue that since criminals don’t follow laws, new regulations on gun ownership would only serve to burden lawful owners while doing little to combat crime.”

And like National Review contributor David French pointed out, “It’s the truth.”

An even greater truth — one that practically nobody refuses to acknowledge — is that reducing firearm-related crimes (or all crimes, for that matter) requires dealing with the root cultural and economic problems at play.

But instead of doing this, Obama would rather focus on inanimate objects such as guns. Good luck with that…

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